She sat on the back steps of the church, holding a glass of wine. She was dressed to the nines, but this wasn't her day, no one was there to see her. She could hear the people inside celebrating, but she couldn't bring herself to put on a brave face and just walk in.
He stepped outside, holding two more glasses. "Thought you could use a little more."
"Owen." She said, squinting against the sun gleaming behind his tall frame.
He sighed and sat down next to her, taking care to move her dress out of the way. "Hi Lindsay."
She twirled her glass a few times, unsure of what to do. "Shouldn't you be in there with the rest of them?"
"Nah. I figured you shouldn't be out here all by yourself."
She looked at him sadly, "Does it hurt? To see Brooke married to someone else?"
He shrugged. "I guess. But then again, I was the one that left her. I couldn't handle her lifestyle, and she deserves someone that can accept all of her. She's something special, though."
"She is, isn't she?"
"What about you? You doing ok?"
"It's funny…I don't really know how to feel. I guess I feel…well, like Peyton. Watching the man I love marry someone else. You know, when I left that day, I never imagined it would be Brooke and not Peyton."
"From what I've heard, Peyton stole Lucas from Brooke quite a few times. Maybe she's just returning the favor."
Lindsay gave a small laugh, her first in a while. "But it's more than that. Anyone with eyes can see that they genuinely do love each other."
"They're in love. That's the important part. They've both loved other people, but there's never been another person they were in love with." He paused for a moment, and then chuckled. "I've gotta say, we were late to that party. I think both of us were doomed from the beginning, there's a reason they keep going back to each other."
"I never knew you were so deep."
"Bartender. People tell you their problems when you give them alcohol. It's a hazard of the job."
"Maybe I'll quit editing and take up bartending. It might hurt less to hear about problems instead of experiencing them."
"Don't do that. You're good at what you do."
Lindsay looked at him quizzically, "And how would you know?"
"I happened to read Lucas' book. Wanted to see what the hype was about. Besides Lucas' hang up on Peyton, it was pretty good."
That got a genuine smile out of her, "Well, thanks, but most of that credit goes to Lucas, not me."
Owen gazed at her for a moment, contemplating what he should say. "Must've sucked to know your boyfriend wrote a book about how much he loved another girl."
She shrugged her face completely serious now, and glanced down. "At the time, it didn't mean much to me. I guess I should've known there would always be someone else for him."
He looked at her sympathetically, and was silent for a minute. "Did you know I live with a guy that Brooke devirgin-ized?" he said suddenly.
"What?" Lindsay looked up, surprised.
"Yeah. Which I didn't know until after I set him up with Peyton. And no one bothered to tell me until we were on our way to dinner. You would think that out of the three of them, someone would have let me know!"
Lindsay just looked at him, the corners of her mouth twitching as she tried not to smile. "That really bugs you, doesn't it?"
"Of course it does! I mean…" he trailed off as he realized that she was poking fun at him. "Hey! I was a big deal…then."
"Must have been awkward."
"Believe me, it was. Later, there was this business of the two of them taking turns making Lucas and Brooke jealous."
"Not hard to do, I'd imagine."
"Well, there is that." Owen acknowledged. Then, he cleared his throat, and turned to face Lindsay. "You wanna go in there and try?" He said, a mischievous twinkle in his eye.
Taken aback, Lindsay just stuttered, "Wha…I…what do you mean?"
He stood and held out his hand, "Dance with me."
"Oh, I don't think I could go in there and see them…"
"Lindsay, why are you here?"
"Well, because they invited me, and I guess to show them that I was ok with this."
"Right. And what better way to say 'I'm over you' than to dance with someone else at their wedding? Now, may I have this dance?"
She hesitated, but only for a moment. She took the hand he held out for her, and he pulled her to her feet. "Ready?" he asked.
"No. But let's do this anyway." She took a deep breath, and together, they turned to face the doors, and walked in, arm in arm.